It is common knowledge that all plants need a few things to grow: water, sunlight, and the nutrients that are usually found in soil. However, some plants require more or less of these essential elements than others. Different plants are adapted to different growing environments. Therefore, in order to maximize growing potential, greenhouses were invented, where climatic conditions can be controlled so that specialized growing environments can be created almost anywhere.
Some people maintain greenhouse gardens for a hobby, and others do so for a livelihood. One of the challenges for many people, though, is finding a space to put a greenhouse. This is especially true in sprawling urban environments, where many live in housing complexes that lack areas for individual yards or gardens. One solution to this problem has been to put greenhouses on rooftops. Not only is this a solution for space, but it also improves the greenhouses. Greenhouses normally do not store heat that is gained during the day to warm the greenhouse interior throughout the night. However, buildings can store heat throughout the day and slowly release it through the roof at night. Such heat would usually go to waste, but a rooftop greenhouse can absorb and benefit from that heat. The building also benefits because the greenhouse helps to insulate the roof.
In this way, rooftop greenhouses have contributed to making buildings more green and sustainable. Yet, despite the advantages of a rooftop greenhouse, one disadvantage is that the rooftop space is lost. In harsher climates, rooftop greenhouses might interfere with the drainage of moisture that accumulates on the roof. Furthermore, though a building might have many occupants, there is only one roof, and, therefore, only one greenhouse. On the other hand, a large number of occupants might desire a large variety of different greenhouse growing environments. In addition, though a rooftop greenhouse does, in spite of its weaknesses, contribute to making a building green and sustainable, an average building has other weaknesses that prevent it from being optimally green and sustainable, such as wasted space.
In light of the foregoing, what is needed is a rooftop greenhouse that is built into the building infrastructure. This would leave the rooftop space available, but make use of an area of wasted space between the roof and the ceiling in buildings that is almost always left unutilized. Such a rooftop greenhouse would ideally have many individual pieces that could be separately controlled by different individuals and allow for the creation of a variety of growing environments for a variety of plants. Finally, this rooftop greenhouse would also need to retain the benefits of a typical greenhouse, including regulated row sizes, so that all areas of the garden would be within reach, and raised garden beds, preventing back strain.